Detroiter Seeks Redemption By Handing Out Gucci To Vagrants After Filming McDonalds Worker Harassing Homeless Man
By Christy Strawser
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Outrage resonated around the country when a McDonalds worker was caught on video offering a homeless man a burger, then throwing water in his face when he approached the drive-through window to take it.
The worker took the brunt of the Internet storm, but the Detroiter who filmed it, laughing, also got his share.
The cameraman, who goes by his rapper name Skeez, took his camera along again Monday night to "redeem himself" after getting many angry messages about his role in the first video. This time instead of laughing at the homeless, he decided to film himself "blessing them with Gucci."
The video is available here, but it contains offensive language and racial epithets.
"Y'all think we're the most stingy a** ..., like we don't look out for the homeless, like we was trying to hoe that man that day, watch this blessing," he says in the newest video, opening the trunk of his car to show two Gucci garment bags.
Skeez and a rapper pal approach a skeptical man on the street, presumably homeless, and offer him one bag, then both. "Give him both of them," Skeez says, adding he wants to "bless him for real."
Smiling happily, the vagrant takes the bags. "May the Lord bless you, you be safe out here," he says, smiling wide, and adding, "I'm afraid for you."
It's unclear what's inside the bag, but it's presumably not a hat, coat or gloves.
Homeless advocate Shere Dore wasn't impressed. "A Gucci bag isn't food, water, toiletries, mental help, housing, a warm blanket. Sadly, the purse will be received and sold for up to $50 then a day later, the homeless individual is right back where they were. I'm not looking for the guy to give designer bags that mean nothing to the homeless. I think his action defines just out of touch he is with the homeless."
She added the Gucci offer was "a new one for me."
Skeez and his pal said they were at East 7 Mile and Conant, representing their label Full Blown Entertainment, to hand out the Gucci to homeless people to show the world that they're not rude or nasty. "We've really got good hearts," Skeez says.
That wasn't obvious in the first video, and response to it was immediate. Dore said she and others in her line of work had flooded McDonalds with complaints.
The owner of the local McDonalds franchise expressed dismay and said the incident would be addressed with the employee who humiliated the homeless guy.
"I am very disturbed by the inappropriate behavior of this employee. This type of behavior is not tolerated in my organization," said Wise Finley, McDonald's franchisee, in a press release. "I expect my employees to treat everyone with dignity and respect, and this was unacceptable. I am taking appropriate action with respect to this individual."
For his part, Skeez said at the time he was filming because a couple of homeless guys were arguing and he thought it was funny. In the latest video, he and his pal add they didn't know the worker, whom they call "Dawg," was going to do what he did when he lured the homeless man in for humiliation.
"This is called redemption day, we're trying to redeem ourselves," Skeez says in the video.